25/11/20

GLOBAL REGULATION: FATF President Calls on G20 to Fully Implement AML Standards.

As published on regulationasia.com, Wednesday 25 November, 2020.

Marcus Pleyer says not all G20 members have taken effective action to make a real difference, despite their public calls for full implementation of the FATF standards.

G20 nations are not doing enough to stop money laundering, FATF (Financial Action Task Force) President Marcus Pleyer said in an article published ahead of the Riyadh Summit last week.

“There are hundreds of ways to conceal the source of illicit money. It is one reason why so many countries’ financial systems are exposed to money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing,” the article reads.

“Yet even as the G20 publicly calls for the full implementation of Financial Action Task Force standards around the globe, not all G20 members have taken effective action to make a real difference. This must change.”

Pleyer points to human, drugs, arms and wildlife trafficking, as well as corruption and terrorism, as some of the consequences of ineffective action against money laundering. “Taking the profits out of these crimes will protect people, the environment and the economy.”

“The G20 must start leading by example and act now to stop money laundering,” he says, adding that many countries have not done enough to enforce the FATF standards effectively. “As a result, these countries remain global hubs for illicit finance by, for example, allowing secrecy about company ownership.”

Pleyer says all countries should:

• Effectively regulate and supervise both the financial sector and the non-financial sector such as lawyers, accountants, and trust and company service providers
• Ensure the rapid availability of information on beneficial ownership
• Set up and expand public-private partnerships to share information
• Ensure law enforcement agencies have the skills and resources to conduct financial investigations, and a broad range of powers and measures to seize and confiscate the proceeds of crime, including through international cooperation

“G20 members, as members of the FATF, have repeatedly committed to leading in these areas and fully implementing FATF standards,” Pleyer says. “Yet not all have done enough in politically challenging sectors. It is time to do so now.”

At the G20 Summit, world leaders reaffirmed their support for the FATF and committed to strengthening its Global Network of regional bodies and supporting their expertise in mutual evaluation reports.

Under Pleyer’s Presidency, the FATF is prioritising work to boost the use of new technology to fight financial crime. Specifically, the agency is focused on the financial flows connected to environmental crime, building on its recent work on illegal wildlife trade, as well as on ethnically motivated terrorism, migrant smuggling, and illegal arms trafficking.

“By removing the profits of crime, authorities can take away the incentive which drives crime in the first place,” the FATF said in an official statement following the G20 Summit, echoing Pleyer’s comments. “This is why all governments must fully and effectively implement FATF standards, even in politically challenging areas.”

“Leading by example, G20 members can spur others into action and make a difference for a better and safer world.”